Along with development in networking technologies, various information processing devices and peripheral devices have come to be connected via networks. Particularly, in a case where several printing devices are connected to a network as peripheral devices, the printing devices may have different device specifications.
For example, an inkjet printing device and an electrophotographic printing device have different device specifications such as a print start position and a resolution. Further, inkjet printing devices that have different functions or that are provided by different manufacturers have different device specifications. This is also the case for electrophotographic printing devices.
There is no problem in a case where only printing devices having the same device specification are connected to a network. However, if existing printing devices are connected to a network, or a printing device with advanced functions is newly connected to a network, printing devices with various device specifications are connected to the network.
In such a network printing system, for enabling each client to use printing devices having different device specifications, it is preferable to provide a server, and give the server functions for accommodating the printing devices having different device specifications.
FIG. 11 is a structural diagram of a first conventional network printing system. As shown in FIG. 11, a server 100 is provided, which is connected to printing devices A, B, C and D via a network 110. Although not shown in the drawing, a number of clients are connected to the network 10.
The server 100 stores individual settings, form formats 120, 122, 124 and 126 for print configuration, device drivers 130, 132, 134 and 136, and the like, for printing on the respective printing devices A, B, C and D. As the server 100 receives a print request from a client via the network, the server 100 performs editing with a form format for a specified printing device, and creates print data with a device driver for the specified printing device, and then, sends the print data to the specified printing device.
FIG. 12 is a structural diagram of a second conventional network printing system. Device drivers in the server 100 are specified so as to be grouped according to common device or operable with a common program, and these common device drivers 138 and 139 are stored. This lightens the burden in design jobs that is imposed on printing device manufacturers and network system engineers.
However, in these conventional technologies, form formats and device drivers are necessary for respective printing devices. Therefore, it is necessary that printing device manufacturers or network system engineers design data and formats in accordance with device properties of the respective printing devices. As the system structure of the network becomes wide-ranging, the design jobs become troublesome. In some cases, product manufacturers and system engineers of the old systems cannot manage by themselves, and it becomes necessary to reconstruct the system and discard old resources. This leads to possibilities of increase in the cost burden and delay in the system introduction schedule.